“Did any mortal ever hear of two such little torments!” exclaimed Major Graham, hardly able to help laughing. “I wonder if anybody else in the world has such mischievous children!”

“It is certainly very strange, that you and Harry never can contrive to be three hours out of a scrape!” said Lady Harriet gravely; “now Frank, on the contrary, never forgets what I bid him do. You might suppose he carried Mrs. Crabtree in his pocket, to remind him constantly of his duty; but there are not two such boys in the world as Frank!”

“No,” added Major Graham; “Harry set the house on fire, and Frank will set the Thames on fire!”

When Laura saw uncle David put on one of his funny looks, while he spoke in this way to Lady Harriet, she almost forgot her former fright, and became surprised to observe her grandmama busy preparing what she called a coach-wheel, which had been often given as a treat to Harry and herself when they were particularly good. This delightful wheel was manufactured by taking a whole round slice of the loaf, in the centre of which was placed a large tea-spoonful of jelly, after which long spokes of marmalade, jam, and honey, were made to diverge most tastefully in [41] ]every direction towards the crust, and Laura watched the progress of this business with great interest and anxiety, wondering if it could be hoped that her grandmama really meant to forgive all her misconduct during the day.

“That coach-wheel is, of course, meant for me!” said Major Graham, pretending to be very hungry, and looking slyly at Laura; “It cannot possibly be intended for our little hair-dresser here!”

“Yes, it is!” answered Lady Harriet, smiling. “I have some thoughts of excusing Laura this time, because she always tells me the truth, without attempting to conceal any foolish thing she does. It will be very long before she has any hair to cut off again, so I hope she may be older and wiser by that time, especially considering that every looking-glass she sees for six months will make her feel ashamed of herself. She certainly deserves some reward for having prevented the house to-night from being burned to the ground.”

“I am glad you think so, because here is a shilling that has been burning in my pocket for the last few minutes, as I wished to bestow it on Laura for having saved all our lives, and if she had behaved still better, I might perhaps have given her a gold watch!”

Laura was busily employed in eating her coach-wheel, and trying to fancy what the gold watch would have looked like which she might probably have got from uncle David, when suddenly the door burst open, and Mrs. Crabtree hurried into the room, with a look of surprise and alarm, her face as red as a poppy, and her eye fixed on the hole in her best gown, while she spoke so loud and angrily, that Laura almost trembled.

“If you please, my lady! where can Master Harry be? I cannot find him in any corner!—we have been searching all over the house, up stairs and down stairs, in vain. Not [42] ]a garret or a closet but has been ransacked, and nobody can guess what has become of him!”

“Did you look up the chimney, Mrs. Crabtree?” asked Major Graham, laughing to see how excited she looked.